Page 2 of Claimed and Catalogued
I glance down at the cat who’s currently licking his paw like he’s over this conversation. “What do you think, buddy? You like my chicken sweater?”
He doesn’t give me a straight answer, but I don’t need one. The sweater is staying.
“It’s not that the sweater isn’t cute, it’s just that the dress I brought you will look… better,” Tess says as I stand from the chair and make my way behind her toward the door.
“Any man who’s interested in me is going to have to be interested in me in this sweater.” I shrug. “It’s my favorite. I wear it all the time.”
“Sure,” Tess tilts her head to the side as though she’s annoyed, “but don’t you think you’ll have more luck drawing attention in a little red dress with a slit up the side?”
“At a small town Christmas tree lighting? Yeah, I’m sure that’ll draw tons of attention. Everyone will be looking at the girl with her tits on display.” I shake my head. “It’s a family event. My sweater will be fine.”
Tess flicks off the lights to the bookstore and grabs her coat off the hook by the door. “You can lead a horse to water… can’t make ‘em drink.”
I shake my head as I follow her out the front door of the shop and into the cold winter night. “You’re talking a big game. I could turn around any second and head home. There’s a bowl of chocolate-covered pretzels and a Christmas book waiting for me.”
“Then you’d have missed that.” She nods down the street toward a massive man leaning against a light pole on the corner of Main.
“Okay,” I shrug, “it’s a big dude. There are lots of big dudes around here.”
“That big, though?” Her tone rises at least three octaves as she speaks, then drops dramatically when she says, “Because that man is… big!”
I’m not sure I started looking at men like slabs of meat, but apparently this is who I am now. Before the man’s face has even come into view, I can’t help but notice how tall and broad he is, how muscular his arms are, how tight his jeans fit, how his flannel shirt strains against his shoulders, how he wears his trucker cap low and mysterious, and how gray his beard is.
He’s a vibe.
“He’d be a perfect wedding date.” Tess grins and flips her hair back and away from her shoulders as we walk closer and closer toward Main Street, the twinkling of the lights and the scent of pine and sugar getting stronger with every step.
“Yeah right,” I laugh. “No one would ever believe a guy like that would want a girl like me, but I’d bet he’d pull in tons of women for the bookstore.”
“No way!” Tess tucks into my arm, pushing me forward, like the way she pushes me forward with everything I do. In some ways, I appreciate the effort. Other times, not so much. I’m not sure which this is yet. “At least talk to him first. Maybe he’s a total weirdo. Good looking people are sometimes.”
“We don’t know if he’s good looking.” I tuck my hands into the pockets of my unzipped jacket. “We only know he’s tall. We could get closer and realize he has a face for radio.”
“With a body like that, he can have two heads, both faces for radio, and he’d still be a catch.” Tess glances toward me in the darkening night, her breath fogging as she laughs.
“Well, he moved.” I shrug my shoulders as I stare at the corner where the giant once stood. “Guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
“Oh, it’s meant to be,” Tess says, holding my arm tight as she navigates us up and down the side streets toward Main. There’s a buzz in the air tonight that’s not usually here. An excitement that feels warm and lived in. Families circling the tree with cocoa, shopping downtown, carrying festive bags with bright smiles as Christmas music plays in the streets, though none of them seem to be stalking the massive man in the tight jeans… which makes me question how unadjusted Tess must be.
She is the one dragging me after all.
We cross the street, weaving through people taking pictures in front of the tree.
“He’s gone,” I say, glancing back toward Tess. “Let’s get some cocoa and scope out the crowd. Maybe there’s a single dadsomewhere that’s desperate to play boyfriend-girlfriend with me for my sister’s wedding.”
She shakes her head and nods forward, her gaze fixed on me as though she’s seeing a ghost.
I follow her line of vision, and there, leaning against the brick wall by the bakery, is the massive man we’ve been chasing, and he’s looking right at me.
Chapter Two
Nick
I’ve tracked bail-jumpers through swamp towns, strip malls, and one very interesting renaissance fair, but this is new. A hunt at a tree lighting is the holiday twist I needed to get into the spirit, though I can’t for the life of me figure why a brunette in a chicken sweater is following me downtown.
I lean against the brick wall of the bakery, sipping cocoa from a Styrofoam cup as I watch the girl with messy curls and rosy cheeks stare in my direction. She doesn’t blink, doesn’t smile, and doesn’t speak.She just watches me.
A lot of work goes into trying to blend in. Maybe I’m not as smooth as I thought. Small towns like these, people know everyone. It only takes one do-gooder to throw the mission out of sync.
